Hi All! Back again, after a few busy weeks at work and with writing.
Writing news:
Sent "The Fatal Span" (TFS) manuscript away to the Minotaur "First Crime Novel Competition" - at last! The results don't come out until March 2012, so I'm taking a break from that story (after an intensive 18 months' work) and revisiting the "novella." You guessed it, it's expanding even further as I work more with the characters and has that inevitable look of "novel" about it. I've realised I can do more (stories) with two of the characters, in which case the original ending must be altered or there'd be an impossible amount of explaining to do. This is a fun story to write, and I really DO enjoy the creative part.
So I'm preparing this plus TFS for a UK competition - keeps my hand in and forces me to write "The Dreaded Synopsis (which, I must admit, no longer holds the stark terror of previous years). Then it's time to get off my butt and start on the (Equally Dreaded) Book Proposal, write a report for Arts SA on my visit to Varuna (that I will forward before Christmas) and work on some specifications for my job at work. School finishes today! (It DOES interfere so with one's writing...)
Joined the rest of the Crime Writers of SA group on Sunday at the Feathers Hotel (Glynburn Road) for a Christmas lunch. We had a fabulous time and the food was magnificent. Thank you Chris and Peter for organising it.
Bird news: Two wonderful visitors to the (back garden) bird-bath on Sunday: Mr and Mrs Superb Blue Wren! WOW! They've been whistling and trilling quite a bit in the last week and have previously checked out the bath (it was too low, so they nicked off - nooooooooooo!) They have to slot in between the New Holland Honeyeaters ("Clogs") and the Blackbirds ("Bill #1, #2, #3....#n"). The larger birds drink out of the pedestal bath out the front.
Seen at MtBS (Mt Barker Summit) last weekend: Fantails, wrens, currawongs, butterflies by the zillion, yellow-tailed black cockatoos, thornbills, golden whistlers, yellow-faced honeyeaters (2 kids playing), white-browed babblers (heard), and a bird that I have NO IDEA what it is - a baby golden whistler, maybe? An immediate investigation required...
And birthday greetings to my Aunty Gwen: 90 last Sunday!
Happy Writing
Bo
x
PS And a picture of the amazing Austrostipa Elegantissima at MtBS